A project aimed at helping giving Powys people a stronger voice in local decision making has benefitted from a £688,316 win on the National Lottery.
Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations (PAVO) will manage a portfolio of six projects over five years aiming to empower citizens to have a greater influence on the design and delivery of statutory services.
An estimated 2,750 beneficiaries will include people with poor mental health, carers, children and young people, victims of domestic abuse, lone elderly people and people with a neurological disorder. The grant will pay project delivery costs, management costs including a Project Officer, recruitment, premises, communication, travel and subsistence, evaluation, office costs and computers.
BIG’s Wales’ Director John Rose said: “The funding announced today will provide more of an opportunity for Welsh communities to get their voice heard. It is about people speaking out to influence the decisions that affect their community and their own lives.
“Community Voice will support them to become more sustainable and resilient to future economic, social and environmental challenges as well as developing a stronger sense of community.”
Community Voice was developed after BIG commissioned a study of Citizen Voice Policy and Practice across Wales and the UK. It found that over the last 10 to 15 years Government policy has increasingly recognised the benefits and importance of community engagement and that there was “considerable” value in citizens being able to influence the design and delivery of public services.
Findings also revealed that it could be equally valuable to focus not only on the public sector agenda, but also on ways in which communities can be encouraged to develop their own approaches and solutions to community needs.
On the back of these findings, Community Voice aims to ensure more people can influence policy and decisions about services in their community, communities and services providers will be able to work together to design and deliver improved services and communities will have increased capacity to conceive and deliver better services and projects.